For weeks now, New Orleans Saints players and coaches have talked about how the defense was making strides after each game.

Although they ranked last in the NFL in yards allowed, they would contend they were an improving bunch.

Perhaps for the first Monday of this season, their words truly began to resonate to those outside of their own locker room.

Despite yielding 427 yards in Sunday's 31-24 victory over the San Diego Chargers, the defense stiffened on the Chargers' final four possessions, forcing two punts and two turnovers while allowing the Saints to rally for their first win of the season.

It was the type of defensive finish that the Saints often said they were capable of but showed few signs of actually realizing.

Now heading into their bye week, the Saints are optimistic that their strong finish against the Chargers will be an effort the unit can build upon.

"I hope so," Saints defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said. "A lot of this game is confidence and we're all human. When it's not going well or the result on the scoreboard is not what you want, it can work on you, but we try to put that behind.

"I mentioned this last week that the more you replay yesterday, the further you get away from the next opportunity and our next opportunity will be the next game. You have to do the same thing when you win and you have success too. You have to forget about it, but it is something to build on."

Spagnuolo, who is in his first season with the Saints and has revamped their defensive scheme, said the Saints remain a work in progress.

While the defense did play well down the stretch, Spagnuolo remains concerned by the breakdowns in the secondary, which allowed Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers to pass for 354 yards and two touchdowns to former Saints receiver Robert Meachem.

"I think it's a confidence builder," Spagnuolo said. "I just got done watching the tape. We have a lot of work to do. The Good Lord helped us out on a number of plays yesterday. I'm going to tell you that right now, but that happens in this league. Sometimes when you lose, it doesn't go your way. It's such a competitive league. You need a break here or there."

And for the first time this season that's precisely what the Saints, who overcame a 10-point, third-quarter deficit, got against the Chargers.

Throughout the season, the Saints have struggled to generate consistent pass rush. But on Sunday night, they sacked Rivers five times with each of their four active defensive ends - Will Smith, Cam Jordan, Junior Galette and Martez Wilson -- all coming up with a sack. Middle linebacker Curtis Lofton also recorded a sack.

Wilson's sack and forced fumble with 14 seconds remained sealed the victory.

"Our defense really stepped up to the challenge," Saints interim coach Aaron Kromer said Monday. "They got pressure on the quarterback and sacked him five times. There were numerous times he had to get rid of the ball before he was ready and that's a credit to Coach Spags and the guys staying with it. It was the first situation where we got another team in a two-minute drill as well, where they had to throw the ball and that's where guys are going to shine in their pass rush and they did, they gave us the pressure we needed and obviously it was a key to the victory."

The Saints baffled the Chargers with their most aggressive game plan of the season, as Spagnuolo called for regular blitzes and asked the defensive line to execute more stunts at the line of scrimmage.

"We had a great game plan this week," Jordan said. "We had some of the right gaming schemes. We definitely had some of the right defensive line stunts. It just worked in our favor this week. It's the same fervor there been the past couple of weeks."

The Saints will have to take the next step. With a bye week, the Saints said they still have some tweaking to do.

Their defense has allowed 2,280 yards, the second most in the first five games of an NFL season since the league started compiling such statistics in 1940. The 1950 Baltimore Colts (2,431) are the only team to allow more yards.

But for now, they were smiling, finally enjoying a win they could say they had a major hand in.

"We just have to continue to just build off this momentum, rest up in the bye week and let's get this thing jazzed up and going," Saints safety Roman Harper said.